


The Case Of The Stolen Doctor: Lestrade PoV Outtake

by flawedamythyst



Series: The Stolen Doctor [2]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 20:45:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lestrade's view on Holmes and Watson's reconciliation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Case Of The Stolen Doctor: Lestrade PoV Outtake

When Lestrade finally found Mr. Holmes and Doctor Watson, they were looking at each other with the kind of emotion that Lestrade had to pretend he couldn't see between them. There was also an unconscious man on the floor, just starting to come round with a groan, so Lestrade concentrated on snapping cuffs on him and getting his men to take him away downstairs until Mr. Holmes and Doctor Watson had got control of themselves.

“Good to see you, Doctor,” he said, once everyone was back to pretending to be no more than they seemed. “I'm glad to see you're in one piece.”

It was good, as well. The Doctor looked pale and tired, and there was a nasty cut on his arm that was still weeping blood, but things could have been much worse. Lestrade had heard enough rumours about Moriarty to know that he liked to see blood flow, and worse besides.

“I'm well enough,” Doctor Watson said. “Thank you so much for coming to my assistance.” Always so polite, the Doctor. As if it wasn't Lestrade's job to do just that, or that he wouldn't have invoked Mr. Holmes's considerable wrath if he hadn't.

Mr. Holmes snorted. “It didn't look much like you needed assistance when I arrived,” he said. “You had escape well in hand.” He was doing his best to pretend to be completely in charge of his emotions, but Lestrade knew him well enough to hear the tremor in his voice. And, of course, he'd seen him the previous morning, when he had been collapsed on the floor in despair.

He'd misdiagnosed the nature of that despair then, of course. Well, when there's a stain on the wall and a strong smell of alcohol, a man as difficult to get along with as Holmes in a sulk, and his closest companion gone off to the country unexpectedly, with no time line on when he'd return, it all looked pretty clear that there had been a nasty row. How was Lestrade to know he should have been looking for signs of a kidnapping by a criminal mastermind? He supposed that was what Mr. Holmes would call hypothesising before the full facts.

“I was struggling with a man who had a knife while I was weaponless,” Doctor Watson pointed out.

Mr. Holmes just shrugged. “You've won out against worse odds,” he said.

His matter-of-fact voice made Doctor Watson stare at him for a moment, as if unsure what to do with that level of confidence. Lestrade thought it would be best to interrupt before they got too deep into Mr. Holmes's respect for his friend's skills. Might be best to get them out of the house and somewhere they could have a bit of privacy as well, until they'd had some time to get their usual masks back on.

“At any rate,” he said, “I can hardly accept your thanks for just doing my job, especially when it was all Mr. Holmes's work. I only found out that you were in jeopardy a few hours ago.”

The Doctor continued to stare at Mr. Holmes. “You didn't inform the police earlier than today?”

“Of course not,” said Mr. Holmes. “Moriarty was very insistent on the harm he would do to you if I did.” He turned his gaze on Lestrade, who was pleased to see he was beginning to be able to pretend he had his usual focus on the criminals rather than the victim. “Please tell me your men apprehended him. He fled only a couple of minutes before they entered the house – he must have blundered straight into them once he was outside.”

Lestrade very much hoped that was true. He didn't want a man like Moriarty wandering around his London, especially not if he was going to start abducting good men like Doctor Watson. “I've not had any reports of his capture yet,” he said. “Still, hidden away up here, it's possible that my men just haven't been able to find me to tell me.”

“Let us go down, then,” said Doctor Watson, and he set off down the stairs with more haste than Lestrade had expected. He couldn't help glancing at Mr. Holmes, only to find him staring after the Doctor with a look of complete relief, mingled with something that Lestrade had spent a very long time pretending not to see. Good lord, those two did insist on making things difficult for him, didn't they?

He set off after Doctor Watson, hoping that once some time had passed, they'd be able to present their usual, respectable façades again. He might be willing to turn a blind eye, but there were policemen who were less forgiving of these things around.


End file.
